This Is Money Show

Every year, between March and April, there used to be a cash Isa season. Banks and building societies clambered over each other in the race to top the best buy tables. This hasn't been the case for a while. However, Nationwide - with a new savings lottery - and Coventry - with a new deal - have offered signs of some green shoots this year, but is it even worth having a tax-free savings account anymore? On this week's podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost go to Isa-town, to talk cash savings deals, the best services to invest, and how to overcome the fear that coronavirus-induced stock market falls have delivered.   Elsewhere, the coronavirus also hit the Geneva Motor Show, but the motor industry decided many of the launches could take place online instead.  What cars were unveiled? Well it broadly fell into two camps, very expensive limited edition hypercars and electric cars that might be the future for the mass market. Simon and Lee talk through the best of them. Meanwhile, a re

On this episode of Making the Money Work podcast, comedian Shappi Khorsandi joins Andi Peters and Simon Lambert to discuss how she built a career in comedy, her unusual life as the daughter of an exiled Iranian poet - and how she once hired Alan Carr to work in a charity call centre. This is the final episode of five in the Making the Money Work series, in partnership with FSCS, that has appeared in the This is Money podcast feed every fortnight since the start of the year. We hope you have enjoyed them. Your usual This is Money podcast will continue to be published every Friday How do you make comedy pay the bills? That’s not a problem for the handful of star names with giant arena tours, but what about the majority of comedians who’ve dedicated a life’s work to standing up and making people laugh without raking in millions? Shappi tells of her route to becoming a comedian and how she realised a job in an office wasn’t for her early on, swapping that for being a cleaner and nude life model for art

Bull markets don't die of old age, we've been told countless times in recent years, but do they die of coronavirus? That is the question that rattled investors are asking themselves after an astonishing week in which the FTSE 100 has fallen 12 per cent. Stock markets around the world have sold off, as investors dump shares driven by a combination of the fear that a crash is finally arriving and the forecasts that coronavirus and attempts to stop it spreading will cause a global slowdown. The UK stock market is down 15 per cent from its mid-January recent peak - what should investors do at times like these? On this week's podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss why coronavirus has hit markets so hard, why investors should not act rashly out of fear and panic, and consider the advice from investing experts. Elsewhere, we reveal how we helped a couple get their £25,000 savings back after their phone number was ported away without consent. Things get a little silly as we talk

This week, savings have been in the spotlight with National Savings and Investments cutting rates on a number of its offerings, including popular Premium Bonds. Both Marcus Bank and Saga also cut easy-access rates. On this week's podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost look at what's behind the cuts and question: should savers head elsewhere, and what is the point of tucking money away for little interest? Nationwide Building Society has launched a Start to Save easy-access account with a £100 lottery – is it any good and can it help get people into the savings habit? We cover a curious case of one reader who found their Spotify infiltrated by someone with appalling music taste. Simon reveals how he was stung by the loyalty penalty when a renewal letter came through from his insurer Halifax. It hiked his premium, but after weeks of back-and-forth, couldn't give him a concrete reason as to why. And Lee looks at whether a Fitbit is worth the money and how a fitness tracker helped

From hosting their podcast Nobody Panic, to being in comedy trio Massive Dad, writing scripts and articles, and putting on Edinburgh shows, Stevie and Tessa have a lot of things to juggle. The pair tell Andi Peters and Simon Lambert their tales of living on a shoestring to get ahead in the London publishing world, including sharing a one-bedroom flat and sleeping under the kitchen table. The duo also explain how to set up an Edinburgh Fringe show and why it is similar to launching a small business, from fronting the cost to book a venue, to selling tickets and hoping you can break even or maybe even make a little money. And Tessa tells of the difficulties of trying to get a mortgage, even with a contract to write a pilot season of a new show for US television. In the Making the Money Work series, in partnership with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, we talk earnings, budgeting and savings with those whose lives and finances roam far from the norm. The five podcasts are hosted by Andi P

This week started with rumours of a pension tax relief cut and mansion tax, saw the Chancellor fall on his sword, and ended with people none the wiser about whether a Budget tax raid is more or less likely after all that. Sajid Javid exited the stage to be replaced by one of his own men, Rishi Sunak, after an attempt by Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings to take back control at the Treasury was rebuffed by the short-lived Chancellor. The question now is just whose idea the pension tax relief and mansion tax plans were and whether they are now on the cards or not (or was the whole shebang just a bit of Machiavellian manoeuvring)? What we do know is that a Budget is due in less than a month, so other than the national purse strings being loosened for the ‘levelling-up’ agenda what are we likely to see? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost delve into the Chancellor saga, what we know about the new man, and what could happen in the Budget that will affect your finance

Would you swap your car for an electric one? If the government gets it way, soon many more of us will have to. The proposed ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars was dragged forward by five years to 2035 this week – and hybrid cars were bundled into the showroom clear-out too. If that sticks, this means that by 2030 – just a decade from now – it’s highly likely the vast majority of cars being sold new will be pure electric. For a modern world that has been shaped by the internal combustion-engined motor car that’s quite the change. On this week’s podcast, we deliver an electric car special. Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce look at the logic behind banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars, whether the move can be pulled off and why hybrids are now also on the naughty list. Charging infrastructure, range anxiety and questions over their lifecycle environmental costs are issues flagged by electric car sceptics, are they right? Meanwhile, the thing holding many people back from b

How do you decide to become an adventurer? For Alastair Humphreys, the decision in his twenties stemmed from his love of a challenge, the outdoors and curiosity about the world. The decision led to a life of adventure, in which Alastair has spent four years cycling round the world, run six Sahara Desert marathons, been on an Arctic expedition, busked his way round Spain, spending only money he could earn, and has written 13 books. But Alastair’s adventure philosophy isn’t about big expensive trips, he would rather do things on a shoestring - and wrote a book encouraging others to have their own cheap ‘microadventures’ close to home. Alastair joins Andi Peters and Simon Lambert on the third episode of the Making the Money Work podcast to tell us about funding the life of an adventurer and building a career out of his exploits. He also explains why he wants to help people live more adventurously – even if that’s just heading out of town and sleeping under the stars on a hillside. As well as talki

It’s Brexit Day – and whether you voted leave or remain, are celebrating, or commiserating, we wish you a happy one. After 11pm on Friday 31 January 2019, Britain is officially no longer a member of the European Union. The big question is, what happens next? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss both what Brexit means immediately for consumers and travellers, and how things may pan out for the economy and our finances over the year ahead. Where do we stand on Ehic medical cover in Europe, driving on the continent, mobile phone roaming, flight compensation and expat pensions? And what will the trade discussions on our future relationship with Europe and the rest of the world mean for the nation’s finances, businesses, inflation, the pound and interest rates? Also on this week’s podcast, the team dive much deeper into house prices than the usual survey, with a look at 174 years of property affordability and whether we can learn anything from a 70 year period w

Are tax returns too taxing, why did new overdraft rules backfire, are challenger banks biting and what are the cars that hold their value best? We answer these questions on this week’s This is Money podcast.  It’s tax return time. The organised will have safely filed their tax returns long ago, but there are still plenty of people who don’t yet feel the last minute has arrived. But what if you are meant to fill in a tax return and don’t realise? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost discuss the ten reasons that people may have to fill a tax return in, even though they are employees paid through PAYE. The team also discuss whether much of the tax return is really needed, or whether people are needlessly spending time filling in an over complicated form for an overly complex system. Also on this week’s podcast is the overdraft row that’s blown up on the back of the FCA’s attempt to improve borrowing and bank’s deciding that 39.9 per cent rates sounded about right.

In this second Making the Money Work episode, Andi Peters and Simon Lambert talk to Olympic bronze medal winner and former professional boxer Anthony Ogogo about how people fund a boxing career and whether an Olympian makes much money.   Anthony tells us about building his boxing career and how an amateur boxer has to support themselves on a shoestring – even when they are heading for the Olympics.  He discusses his subsequent professional career and how after injury forced his retirement, he is swapping the boxing ring for the wrestling ring.   The 30-year-old was one of the sportsmen and women celebrated by Britain as the nation enjoyed the thrill of the London 2012 Olympics and a slew of medals.   Then aged 23, the middle-weight boxed his way to a bronze medal to add to the gold that he had won in the Junior Olympics in 2004.   Anthony, who was also a promising footballer who played for Norwich City’s youth team, had taken up boxing at the age of 12 and by the time he arrived at the London Olympics he had

Santander is to cut the rate of interest customers can earn with its 123 current account. It will mean one of Britain's most popular accounts will have dropped from a top tier 3 per cent when it launched in 2012 to 1 per cent. Why has the high street banking giant done this and could it result in an exodus of people moving? Does it signal the end of current accounts with benefits? It is also capping the level of cashback customers can earn while putting a blanket 39.9 per cent overdraft rate in place – following a similar move from its banking rivals. Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost take a look at what it means for the current account market, whether there are other – better – accounts to switch to and how it managed to become so popular. Also on this week's podcast, we look at the rise of the buy now, pay later form of credit and whether it is another debt trap to watch out for. Why have nearly 40,000 people put in retrospective planning applications? And can you really hide a castle behind

Savers had a resoundingly duff deal over the decade that just ended, as they paid the price for the borrowing binge that proceeded it. Understandably, many feel somewhat aggrieved – like a moderate drinker who got the hangover that should have gone to the party animal. But it’s not just ‘emergency’ low interest rates that turned permanent that delivered the pain, banks and building societies paying little respect to loyal customers and undermining them with rock bottom rates on legacy accounts has also played a major part. Now, the financial watchdog has a plan to deal with the so-called loyalty penalty. A standard savings rate across all easy access accounts and Isas, with the ability to offer better rates over limited periods, for example, 12 months. When bonus time was up, that standard rate would act a floor to protect savers against the 0.01 per cent-paying accounts of this world. Is this a solution to the problem, or just some tinkering that all but mandates bonus accounts and does

This bonus podcast episode is from This is Money's new special series Making the Money Work, in partnership with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Andi Peters and Simon Lambert talk to record-breaking Atlantic solo rower Kiko Matthews. How do you fund a life less ordinary? For most of us financial life means paydays, bills, mortgages and attempts to save or invest, but for others it is very different. If you decide to row the Atlantic, are an Olympic boxer, or have made a career out of having adventures or doing comedy, what on earth do you do with your finances? In our new special podcast series Making the Money Work, in partnership with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, we talk earnings, budgeting and savings with those whose lives and finances roam far from the norm. The five podcasts are hosted by Andi Peters, alongside This is Money’s Simon Lambert, and every fortnight over the next ten weeks you can listen to a new interview with a different special guest about their fi

Does Woodford trump Brexit and the election, were you more concerned about the wealth gap, or do all those pale into insignificance next to the challenges of climate change? On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Tanya Jefferies discuss the money stories that shaped the final year of a tumultuous decade. Fallen star fund manager Neil Woodford dominated the financial headlines after his fund was frozen at the start of June, with investors still waiting to find out how much they will get back as it is wound down. That saga was enough to push Brexit and politics out of the main headlines for a while, but they loomed large over the whole year.  January triggered a period of fretting over no deal, March saw the Brexit deadline come and pass, summer saw Theresa May out the door of Number 10 Downing Street and Boris Johnson in, only for the new Prime Minister to miss his own Brexit deadline and gamble on an election that he won handsomely. Where does that take us next – and will the

The stock market and the pound bounced as Boris Johnson claimed his 80 seat majority in a better-than-expected election win. But will the honeymoon period last into the New Year, beyond Brexit on 31 January, through a Budget in early February and past the negotiations about how exactly our future relationship with the EU will pan out? The Conservative manifesto was thin on detail, but on this podcast we discuss what was in there, what else we know Boris might do and what we think he could do with the big majority this general election delivered him. And we ask whether the man who wants to be a great Prime Minister, can deliver the goods on the NHS, reshape the economy and get stuff done?

The combined wealth of British households is up 13 per cent between 2016 and 2018 - with the average standing at £286,600. But it's not all about house prices. In fact, the bulk of the rise is thanks to private pensions rather than property inflation, according to the Office for National Statistics. And it says that despite plenty of election claims to the contrary the rich aren't getting richer - but does that claim stack up?  On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost delve into the figures and ask: is financial inequality growing? We look at whether a reader can retire at 58 with a £6,000 pension – but £420,000 in a savings account. Meanwhile, as Vanguard reveals details of its new self-invested personal pension is this now the best home for cheap and easy retirement savings outside of the workplace? On the not so bright side for investors, M&G has suspended trading on its commercial property fund as savers dash for their cash. And finally, away from the ser

Will this election really prove to be about Brexit?  That issue was predicted to define the vote, but while each party’s Brexit stance will be at the forefront of people’s minds there are many other factors that now seem to be heavily influencing how the 12 December general election is shaping up. One of the biggest is the battle over the economy and our personal finances. There’s a sizeable difference between Labour’s tax and spending plans and those of the Tories. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats propose their own sizeable tax and spending rises but at less than half the Labour increase. So what do all these promises and plans mean for you? On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Lee Boyce dig into the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat manifestos to find out. The Conservatives have already said they will spend an extra £34billion a year by 2024 and added a further £3billion to that in their manifesto. But Labour plan an extra £82.9billion of spending – with a furth

Labour's election manifesto has been revealed and it involves a huge £82.9billion spending spree – to be funded by a similar tax rise. It outlined a 45p income tax rate above £80,000 and to leave no one in any doubt about its intentions opted to call its new 50p level above £125,000 the Super-Rich Rate. On this podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Lee Boyce run through the main financial points of Labour's manifesto, with a look at all the parties' plans due at a later date after the Tory manifesto lands. They look at the other Labour moves, including for capital gains will be taxed at the same level as income – with the annual allowance axed - sending the current 10 and 20 per cent CGT rate for investors in shares and funds – and 18 and 28 per cent for property investors - up to 20, 40, 45 or even 50 per cent. Entrepreneurs would lose their special 10 per cent capital gains tax rate that rewards them for building businesses. Dividends would also be taxed the same as income, with the dividend a

It could be you. It probably won't, of course, but maybe, just maybe, it could be.  That's the attraction of Britain's lottery for its millions of players and this week it reached its 25th birthday.  For self-proclaimed Lottery mug, Simon Lambert, that's two-and-a-half decades of spending money on the draw week-in, week-out because foolishly he has six numbers committed to memory. For some lucky people though, it's meant winning a life-changing sum of money, albeit for a handful it probably didn't change life for the better. On this week's podcast, Simon, Georgie Frost and George Nixon look at 25 years of the lottery and the story of a couple, Elaine and Derek, from Newcastle who won £2.7million shortly after the game started. So what did they do with the money - and what would our podcast team do? Also, this week we discuss the 100 per cent mortgages for students who want to try their hand at becoming buy-to-let landlords. Meanwhile, providers that know your new card details before you h